TBF Eastern Division Championship Underway, Field is Tight

Gilford, NH – September 17, 2008

The “Official” part of the TBF Eastern Division Championship got underway last night (Wednesday) for the TBF Eastern Division anglers with registration and sponsors welcome, a dinner banquet and partners pairing at the Gunstock Ski Resort. After the anglers hauled their sponsored goodies back to their trucks and sit down to dinner, talk around the dinner table was that fishing was “a bit tougher than usual”, but there was some good bags being caught and it was going to be “a tight race”.

Today on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee, that “forecast” held perfectly true.

In the state team standings tight may not accurately describe it. Each state team has 12 anglers on it all 12 anglers weight count toward the team score and the cash payout. After a full day’s fishing, the New Hampshire team leads with 111-5 but Massachusetts is right there with them only 2 ounces back at 111-3 and Maine is in third with 109-7. There is a little gap back to fourth which is held by Rhode Island but they are still in contention with 84-1, Rhode Island may be a team to watch as they have a couple anglers on good fish, if they can relay that to their team mates they could take a jump tomorrow, the 2006 and 2007 back to back Eastern Division Champions from Vermont will have to push the next two days to win three back to back, but I would not count them out just yet, they are in fifth at 78-6. Connecticut sits in sixth with 61-2 and the New YorkOntario Team is in seventh at 43-1.

In the individual standings the top two anglers from each team advance to the 2009 TBF Federation National Championship, the top anglers as a boater and the second place anglers as a non-boater.

Chris Bowker, fishing for the Rhode Island Team, holds down the top overall spot there with a five bass limit that weighed in at 14-2. Right behind him in second is one of his Rhode Island team mates Mike Mantha who had 13-8.

Sitting in third is Massachusetts big stick Jim Gildea, who has been on fire here recently, he brought in five that weighed 13-0.

Rounding out the top 5 is Maine’s Laurence Hogue with 12-14 and Gilbert Gagner from Vermont with 12-6.

Of interesting note is that New Hampshire who is leading the team standings but did not have a angler in the top five……consistency pays.

The youngest angler the event is 16 year old Ryan Latinville, who is showing some of the “Old Guard” how it is done. He holds the second place spot on the New YorkOntario Team.

Day 2 weigh in will begin tomorrow, Thursday at Eliquoia State park outside of Gilford, NH. It is free to the public.

Wind and Rain Greet Northern Division Anglers Final Day

Cummings Wins!

Friday September 12, 2008 – Clinton Township, Michigan

After three full days of official practice and the first two tournament days with clear skies and Lake St Clair’s expansive waters as flat as a sheet of glass, Mother Nature sent a reminder to the Northern Division Championship anglers today that she was still in full control. Wind and rain greeted the anglers on today’s final day and forced many of them to scramble in order to perform at their maximum.

The “Maximum Performer” proved to be Michigan’s Derek Cummings. Cummings had a taste of the TBF National Championship in 2007 and he was committed and focused on making a return trip in 2009. As the division champion he not only earned a spot in the championship he also earned the CASTROL Maximum Performer $500.00 cash bonus award.

Cummings weighed in 19-00 today, his smallest bag this week, but it was enough to keep him in the top spot in the race for the individual Division Champions title. His overall weight was 63-01 for the event. Finishing in second place was Indiana’s Todd Kuhn. Kuhn, on the other hand weighed in his biggest bag of the week that tipped the scales at 22-15, it propelled him into the second place spot in the individual overall.

The top two anglers from each of the six TBF northern division states qualify for the March 2009 TBF National Championship on Bull Shoals lake Missouri. The top angler will fish the event as the boater and the second place angler as a co-angler.

In the state standings, the Michigan 12-man team put on a clinic by taking the lead on day 1 and never looking back, expanding their lead every day, to finish with 473-07. Indiana, the reigning champions challenged them briefly on day 1 but had to give up the Division Champions Cup Michigan to hold for the year, finishing a distant second with 387-12.

There was also quite a gap between second and third, nearly 100 pounds. As Wisconsin pushed hard but wound up third with 295-14, Ohio finished fourth with 294-01, Illinois settled in at fifth with 283-03 and Minnesota finished sixth with 263 even.

For a full story on the event written on our partner’s website at flwoutdoors.com Click here

For full standings, including the top two from each state that qualified for the 2009 TBF Federation National Championship Click here

Derek Dominates Michigan Slugfest!

Thursday September 11, 2008

Michigan’s Derek Cummings jumped into the overall northern division lead today, propelled by his 23-11 bag of St. Clair smallmouth, Cummings took over the top spot form his team mate and day 1 leader Mark Modrak. He finished the day with a combined two day total of 44-1. One more day to go.

Modrak, is far from “out of it” as he sits in the number two slot with 39-3.

Rounding out the top six in the individual standings is; Minnesota’s Bob Perkins, 38-15

In third, Indiana’s Todd Kuhn at 37-13, fourth, Indiana’s Britt Davidson in fifth with 37-6 and Ohio’s Jeff Melsop in sixth with 36-1.

As it should, it all comes down to tomorrow’s final day in the individual standings to see who will be crowned the northern division champion and win the Castrol Maximum Performer cash bonus. The race for the top two spots on each state team and a berth in the March 2009 TBF Federation National Championship, presented by the National Guard, on Missouri’s Bull Shoals lake is also very tight.

On the state team standings it may appear that the reigning champs from Indiana will be giving up the Divisional Cup to Michigan, as the Michigan team increased their team lead today to over 50 pounds, finishing the day with a team weight of 308-6, Indiana does sit in second at 251-3. Anything can and usually does happen but it looks like the race is for the third place money. Third is currently held by Ohio with 209-4, Wisconsin is in fourth with 194-0, and Illinois sits in fifth with 187-5. Minnesota holds the sixth spot at 164-12.

For details about how the anglers are catching their fish read the story on our partner’s website at flwoutdoors.com Click here

For full, individual and team standings, Click here

Day 3 final weigh in begins at 3:00pm EST at Selfridge DNR ramp next to the main gate of the Selfridge Air National Guard Base. It is free to the public.

TBF wants to say a special word of prayer for all those families affected by the 9-11 terrorist attack on the US seven years ago today. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

We will never forget.

Michigan Modrak Leads!

Michigan’s Mike Modrak, from China Township, MI, weighed-in a impressive sack of smallmouth today that tipped the scales at 22-4 to take the day 1 lead in the TBF Northern Division Championship. Modrak’s sack not only anchored his state team and placed Michigan solidly into the lead over the other northern division states that are competing in the St. ClairDetroit river contest, it also contained the days big bass, a 6-3 giant.

Modrak, a local Ranger boat rep who qualifed through the Michigan TBF Federation for the event, staked out a solid day bag but he was very aware that a 23 pound bag could come in at anytime to unseat him. It did not happen today. Closest angler to him was Wisconsin’s Nickolas Smyers who brought 21-11 to the scales.

There were 5 bags over 20 pounds that crossed the scales today with only 7 anglers in the field not able to post a weight today. All fish were released alive back into the lake.

State Team standings shaped up like this:

Michigan is leading with 160-6, which is nearly a 35 pound over second place Indiana and the reigning Division champs. 35 pounds sounds like a lot but late in the weighin Michigan held a 60 pound lead and Indiana was able to close the gap……two more days to go.

Sitting in third palce is the team from Ohio at 102-13, fourth is Wisconsin with 98-9. Minnesota and Illinois are fifth and six with 94-14 and 89-12 respectively.

For a full story by our partners website at flwoutdoors.com Click here

For complete standings Click here.

Day 2 weigh in begins tomorrow, Thursday, at the Selfridge DNR ramp. It is free to the public.